(AP) Shepherd Fairey, the artist who created Obama’s HOPE poster was sentenced to two years probation and 300 hours of community service for tampering with evidence in a civil suit.
The judge cited Mr. Fairey’s charity work and the damage his reputation has already suffered as reasons for not sentencing him to jail time.
Fairey had manipulated evidence in a civil suit filed by the Associated Press to avoid embarrassment, not to benefit financially. The fact that it was not for financial gain was considered a mitigating circumstance by the judge.
The government asked that Fairey, 42, serve some jail time for destroying and falsifying documents in the suit which was brought by the Associated Press because Mr. Fairey used one of their photographs for his poster without permission. Fairey admitted using the AP photo as the model for his poster.
Fairey, the father of two young daughters, was very contrite.
Read the background story here.
The AP photo and Mr. Fairey’s HOPE poster:
To me, the poster was original enough but this is the new U.S. in which inspiration cannot stem from a photo with a name on it.
Recent Comments